Our NHS is struggling to survive in its current form. Time for a radical overhaul

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Taxpayer funding of the NHS needs to be fundamentally rethought. Instead, we should move over to the "Bismarkian" model of social health insurance

Some readers will be old enough to remember rationing. First it was petrol, then as the war intensified, it was bacon, butter and sugar. Next came meat, tea, jam, canned fruit and even lard. Nor did it end with victory. Amid growing public anger and frustration with the egalitarian policies of the post-war Labour government, it unnecessarily dragged on for another nine years after the cessation of hostilities, and on some products became even stricter.

In today’s world, few would find the deprivations of rationing remotely tolerable. Imagine going to Sainsbury’s for the weekly shop and being limited by Government diktat in the choice and quantity of what you could buy; such practices can only...